Don't Stuff It in a Goodie Bag!

Let's face it, most author budgets for promotional material are tight. We work hard to get the biggest bang for our hard earned bucks as we invest in promotional material to get ourselves out there.

Some of the least expensive promo can be bookmarks and cover flats. It's easy to print them, fairly easy to design them to look sharp and pleasing to the eye, and easy to have them in sufficient quantity to drop in every Welcome bag at a given con.

Things I've observed:

My first year at RT, when faced with having to pack all of my loot to get it home, the first things I trashed were paper bookmarks and cover flats. They were in every bag, every goodie sack and on every table. Right into the trash can they went.
My first year at AAD, I witnessed entire table fulls and box loads of similar paper bookmarks and cover flats go into the trash. Readers didn't take them and took them out of their Welcome bags to lighten the load as they packed their loot to go home.

So one might think bookmarks and cover flats aren't good promotional material. Well, I'd disagree there too.

When does a reader keep that bookmark or want that cover flat?

Cover flats are a great way to have a autographed keepsake from your favorite author. I've had a lot of readers ask for them at con.
Bookmarks are a handy way to look up an author you intend to check out later. I've had a lot of newly met readers take my bookmark and tuck it into a safe place in their bag or purse so they could find it easily to look up my books when they got home.

It's about how you, as an author, use your bookmarks and cover flats. Given anonymously in a big bag full of other paper promo, it's likely to get trashed. But if you're talking with someone and have made a connection, they're likely to tuck your bookmark or cover flat away someplace safe as a way to remember to look you up again later.

They are a great value and strong promotional aid when used at the right time.

And for my readers, ask me for them any time.